A1 It Won't Be This Way (Always) A2 With The Other Guy A3 (I Wanna Do) The Monkey One More Time A4 Wonderful One A5 Two Hearts A6 Just Keep On Smiling B1 The Hop Scotch B2 I Got The Monkey B3 Believe In Me (It's Gossip - It's A Rumor) B4 Don't Wait Pretty Baby B5 How Long Will It Last B6 I Won't Have It
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Brothers
The Kelly Brothers were a 1960s Chicago gospel quartet, which also sang R&B as the King Pins. The group comprised brothers Curtis, Robert and Andrew Kelly with the fourth part sung by Charles Lee or Offe Reece.[1][2] The group gave King Records their only Chicago success in the soul idiom as the King Pins with "It Won't Be This Way (Always)," in 1963, which reached number twelve on Billboard's R&B chart.[3]
In 1966, the Kelly Brothers reached #39 on the Billboard R&B singles chart with "Falling in Love Again." References[edit]
^ Alan Young Woke Me Up This Morning: Black Gospel Singers and the Gospel Life 1604737328 2012 "In the 1960s, brothers Curtis, Robert and Andrew Kelly, from Chicago, sang gospel as the Kelly Brothers, and R&B as the King Pins, producing one of the more singular examples of tailoring the song to the market. Their 1960 recording of “He's All Right” has the first verse: He's all right, Jesus is all right. He's been with ... ^ Robert M. Marovich A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music- 2015 0252097084 Both sides of the group's third single, “He's Alright” and “He's the Same today,” became radio hits.122 The discs showcased the group's churchy, vocally intense, guitar-driven approach, a style that was prevalent among gospel quartets during the early 1960s. The Kelly Brothers recorded another eight sides in February 1962, and Thompson was sufficiently confident of the quartet's sales potential to package most of their singles on an LP called The Kelly Brothers Sing a Page of Songs ..." ^ Robert Pruter Chicago Soul 1992-0252062590 Page 236 "The one Chicago success the company had in the soul idiom was the King Pins' "It Won't Be This Way (Always)," in 1963 (number twelve on Billboard's r&b chart).The King Pins were actually a long-time gospel group, the Kelly Brothers (Andrew, Curtis, and Robert Kelly, Charles Lee, and Offe Reece), and the song was essentially a "gospel number" thinly disguised with secular lyrics."
A1 Look Where I Am 3:48 A2 Painted On The Wall 2:41 A3 Dead Afternoon Song 3:16 A4 Be Off Man 2:07 A5 Why Come Another Day 3:09 A6 You Said / But I've Got My Way 5:46 B1 Lights Across The Field Bright Lights Across The Field Too 2:44 B2 Sweet Eyes Of 4:29 B3 Georgeann 3:43 B4 Untitled Number 2 4:45 B5 Triumphant Breaking Bottle 4:28
Toto Bissainthe (2, April 1934– 4, June 1994) was a Haitian actor and singer known for her innovative blend of traditional Vodou and rural themes and music with contemporary lyricism and arrangements.[1][2] Born in Cap-Haïtien in 1934, she left Haiti at an early age to pursue her acting studies abroad. Her career started in theatre with the company Les Griots, of which she was a founding member in 1956. Griots was at the vanguard of négritude-inspired cultural institutions in France, and was the first African theatre company in Paris.
The Griots was the troupe that gave the first performance of Jean Genet's play "The Blacks." She also worked with the playwright Samuel Beckett and the director Roger Blin and acted in several films.[3]
With a groundbreaking performance in 1973 at La vieille grille in Paris, Toto Bissainthe established herself as singer-songwriter-composer, stunning the audience with her soul-stirring renditions of original compositions that paid homage to the lives, struggles, miseries and spirituality of working class and rural Haitians.
The singer and actress Toto Bissainthe was recognized by many as a champion of Haitian music abroad.[4]
An artist in exile, Toto Bissainthe will be unable to return to the Haiti that so inspired her until the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986. However, the multiple disappointments of the unending democratic transition and political infighting would forever embitter the outspoken artist, who had long dreamed of a return to help rebuild her motherland. Saddened by Haiti's social and political degradation, Toto Bissainthe's health would enter a downward spiral ending with her death from liver damage on June 4, 1994. The cause was cirrhosis, her family said.[3]
Toto Bissainthe studied acting in France where she founded The Griots with Roger Blain. This was the first black theatre company in France.[5] Some of the plays titled in French included Papa bon Dieux, Les negres, Negres, negres, L’ombre de la ravine, and L’invite de Pierre, among others. She also had some roles in film, including Les tripes au soleil and En l’autre bord [5].
She began singing in 1962, after a return to Haiti. “Because in my family, we always loved singing and I missed it. I started a little bit by chance: in a hotel…and on that evening I remember that I sang a song”. She continued singing at that hotel once a week for three to four months in French and in Haitian Creole.[6] Music[edit]
Among her albums are Ti Lorai Cale released in 1976, Toto à New York from 1975, Toto chante Haïti from 1977, Haïti Chanté- Chant du Monde published in 1977, and others. Toto was constantly praised in the media for her music. In a 1967 Haitian newspaper, a journalist wrote the following praising her album:
Toto Bissainthe will, at the very least, have the merit of having introduced through song to Haiti, a way that is only reserved to a minority. What will remain of this effort, the evanescent memories of an evening under the stars, a cry thrust in the desert? Do not blame her for lack of passion, but more surely our secular sleep. (Translated from French) [7]
In a document about Toto’s album Toto Bissainthe chante Haïti, it is stated, “Toto Bissainthe sings, and the memory of Haiti becomes the memory of the world, or the universal human. Vodou is then revealed, tapped in each one of us” (Translated from French).[8] Some lyrics include, “I cry for the mourning of Haiti/Haiti my dear, your children are dead/and the others are naked/Aytitoma, your blood is in the diaspora/The country is dying/Who will hold the mourning/Haiti has been blinded/Haiti stopped/Haiti was “zombified”/ Who will hold the mourning/Haiti, I call on you/I call on you as you call on me/That you call and reunite your blood/for the great Koumbite” Translated from French) [8]. These are the words for the song Lied Van. This particular album has songs composed with a tamtam, a type of gong[8].
Toto Bissainthe was very often lauded for being a singer representing the black diaspora. In a newspaper clip from the year 1980, there’s an article titled Toto Bissainthe: The Sortileges of the Black diaspora which states, “Her creation has for ambition to refer to a lost freedom that has yet to be found. For having personally lived in Haitian exile, she searches for a certain authenticity in her music” (Translated from French).[9]
In an interview she stated that she sings for the black people
Simply because we must. What I speak of is unity. With colonization and all of the cultural alienation that we were subjected to, we became very separated. I see it all over the Antilles. There’s very little people who see themselves as Antilleans. They consider themselves Martiniquais, Guadeloupean, Haitian, Trinidadian, Cuban, etc.[10] Activism[edit]
Toto Bissainthe left her native land during a time of high tensions in Haiti. Francois Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, ran a military regime in Haiti from 1957 to 1971. His son Jean-Claude Duvalier, also known as “Baby Doc”, succeeded him from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1986.
In 1980, the Jean-Claude Duvalier dictatorship forbade all media critiques; they began exiling journalists.[11]
In La Vie Ouvriére newspaper, she spoke about her frustration regarding this matter. The interviewer asks her how is it that she was able to sing in Haiti, when he thought that she couldn’t. “I can return, but only for one show. I feel frustrated to not be able to give a popular show. So I will return. Right now, with everything that is being said about the regime, they have a bit more attention over their image. And that’s why I can return”, she stated. She then added “All of the people that I love, I would tell them what I want, against the government and all that, and [the government] wouldn’t find that worrisome because they know that the people don’t speak French…still that can still give some consciousness to some. But as soon as I would sing in creole, I would make more impact and they immediately banned me” (Translate from French) (Catala).[10]
She went on to give a concert less than 2 months before the fall of the Duvalier regime at the Rex Theatre. At this concert she told people her message of justice, hope, love, life and revolt. The concert concluded in a standing ovation. She returned to Haiti indefinitely after the regime had ended[11]
When she returned to Haiti, in what she called a “slow return”, “she pursued her creation with the support of her partner, the American journalist Michael Norton”. She also collaborated with Haitian artists and writers, Syto Cavé and Lyonel Trouillot.[10] Personal Life and Death[edit]
Toto Bissainthe married American journalist Michael Norton; he died in 2008 at the age of 66 years.[12] Toto had two daughters, Milena and Souqhaina. Milena currently owns the copyright to Toto Bissainthe’s website.[5] She also had three grandchildren.[3]
Toto died at the age of 60 in 1994. Her family shared that the cause was cirrhosis.[3] Discography[edit] Toto à New York (Chango, 1975) Toto chante Haïti (Arion, 1977, Prix de la chanson TF1 1978, reissued 1989) Haïti Chanté - Chant du Monde (reissued, 1995) Coda (reissued, 1996) World Network Vol. 43: Haiti (with Ti Koka) (World Network, 1999) Rétrospective (Créon Music, 2006) Bibliography[edit]
"Toto (Marie-Clotilde) Bissainthe" pp 153–159 in Mémoire de femmes by Jasmine Claude-Narcisse, UNICEF Haïti, 1997 Filmography[edit] Les tripes au soleil, 1959. Le théâtre de la jeunesse: La case de l'oncle Tom, Le, 1963. La Noire de..., 1966. L'homme au contrat, television series, 1974. En l'autre bord, 1978. West Indies, 1979. Toto Bissainthe de Sarah Maldoror (5mn - documentary), 1984. Haitian Corner, 1988. An Alé de Irène Lichtenstein (16mm - 70mn - documentary), 1990. L'homme sur les quais, 1993. References[edit]
^"Toto Bissainthe". Retrieved 22 September 2014. ^"Toto Bissainthe". Retrieved 22 September 2014. ^ Jump up to:abcd"Toto Bissainthe, Actress and Singer, 60". The New York Times. 1994-06-09. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-10-26. ^ Weiss, Jason (1999-01-01). "French‐Caribbean music: An introduction". Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas. 32(58): 75–76. doi:10.1080/08905769908594586. ISSN0890-5762. ^ Jump up to:abc":: Le site Officiel de Toto Bissainthe". totobissainthe.com. Retrieved 2015-12-21. ^ Chansons sans Frontières. Toto Bissainthe: Une main tendue à toutes les mains blessèes du monde. Date Unknown. Web. 18 December 2015. ^ Sandler, Roger. Le Nouvelliste. Le Nouvelliste. November 1967. Taken from totobissainthe.com ^ Jump up to:abc Presse- Paroles et muique. Le site Officiel de Toto Bissainthe. Web. 18 December 2015. Taken from totobissainthe.com ^ Toto Bissainthe: les sortilèges de la diaspora noire. Liberation. 5 November 1980. (Source found here http://www.totobissainthe.com/critt7.pdf) ^ Jump up to:abc Catala, J.C. Toto Bissainthe: Je chante l’histoire du people noir. La Vie Ouvriére. 29 October 1980. (Taken from http://www.totobissainthe.com/critt4_4.pdf) ^ Jump up to:ab Haïti-Spectacle: Le souvenir de Toto Bissainthe, interprète révoltée. AlterPresse en Haiti - Beaucoup plus que l'actualité!. Alterpress. 7 June 2015. Web. 15 December 2015 ^ Décès de Michael Norton, ancien correspondant de AP. Metropole Haiti. 17 June 2008. Web. 19 December 2015.
1 Searching For Ourselves 3:42 2 Crossroads 7:22 3 Bow To The People 3:04 4 Black Love 5:57 5 One Little Chance 2:57 6 Big Brother 5:10 7 Children Of Tomorrow's Dreams 4:05 8 No More Junk 4:08 9 Della Get Down 4:58 10 I Am A Woman 5:10 11 I Really Like It 4:00 12 Puppet 6:14 13 Cool Out Your Mind 6:20 14 Man Of Many Means (Previously Unreleased) 5:01 15 I Don't Know Much About Love 3(Previously Unreleased) 2:50
Clarence Young III: Vocals, Piano Sigmond Dillard: Electric Bass Sam Carter: Drums Delbert Taylor: Trumpet, Piano, Vocals Herbert Nelson: Alto Saxophone Ben Wilson: Vibraphone Bruce Anthoney Davis, Carl Payne, Bobby Collins, Beneda Brown: Vocals
Strut presents one of the most in-demand and significant albums from the archives of Jimmy Gray’s Black Fire Records, ‘Bow To The People’ (1976) by theatre collective Theatre West, based out of Dayton, Ohio.
Founder Clarence Young III had been a Vietnam Vet in the US Air Force and was part of a theatrical troupe entertaining soldiers in 15 countries. When he returned home in 1969, he started a theatre company in Dayton as an outlet for inner city youth to come together and express themselves. Young became widely respected as a playwright and 1971 was a breakthrough year as he received national accolades for his off-Broadway plays Perry’s Mission and The System, portraying black lives in America as life in a penitentiary. At its height, Theatre West involved around 27 members. “Everybody played everything and did everything,” recalls bassist Sigmond Dillard. “We all had to sing, dance and act all the time. If someone messed up, you came in. It was a tight unit and we were constantly helping each other out.”
“There were so many talented and gifted people in our troupe,” continues Dillard. “Rita Brown went on to New York, starring in the film Disco Godfather during the late ‘70s. Bruce Davis went on to work regularly on Broadway in Chicago, All That Jazz and more. Our Musical Director was Delbert Taylor and he also played with Gil Scott Heron’s Midnight Band and with Slave afterwards in the early ‘80s. Vibes player Ben Wilson and I also played regularly with Gil.”
Recorded at Arrest studios in Washington in ’76, ‘Bow To The People’ brought together songs from several of Theatre West’s best known plays including Bow To The People, The System and Black Love and unflinchingly explored serious issues around drug addiction, mental health and cultural awareness. “The whole idea of Bow To The People was to honour our black forefathers,” explains Dillard. “It was important to do that for the kids that didn’t know.”
Shelved following the original recording, the Bow To The People album eventually surfaced on a limited CD on Black Fire in 1993. Now receiving its first full international release, the album features the previously unreleased tracks ‘Man Of Many Means’ and ‘I Don’t Knpw Much About Love’ and has been remastered from the original tapes by The Carvery.
1 Give Me Love With The Music 2 Double Funkin' 3 My Love Is Hot (Caliente) 4 Man Power (Can You Do It) 5 Shade Of Blue 6 Freaky Strangeness 7 What's Love Bonus Tracks 8 My Love Is Hot (Caliente Un Amour) (7" Version 1) 9 Man Power (Can You Do It) (Extended 12" Version) 10 Two Sides (Stereo) 11 Double Funkin' (7" Version) 12 Give Me Love With The Music (7" Version) 13 My Love Is Hot (Caliente Un Amour) (7" Version 2) 14 Man Power (Can You Do It) (Rough Mix) 15 Two Sides (Mono)